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Illness Separates Family

In 2010, Adam lost contact with his partner Diane and their six month old twins. He had organised for his young family to come to Ireland, where he thought they would be safer, but could only afford to send Diane and the babies. He would have to follow them later.

Shortly after arriving in Ireland, disaster struck when Diane became seriously ill and lost touch with Adam while in the hospital. He had no idea what had come of Diane and their children. But he didn’t give up. Some six years after sending them to safety, Adam finally managed to get to Ireland in early 2016. He knew was that his family must be somewhere in Ireland and he immediately began searching for them.

Adam came to the Irish Red Cross to request the assistance of the Restoring Family Links team. The team were able to locate Diane within a few days and let her know that Adam was in Ireland and looking for her. It was news Diane had never expected, believing something terrible had happened to Adam.

Shortly after his arrival in Ireland, Adam and Diane were reunited at the Irish Red Cross office. “It was amazing and emotional to see them reunite after so many years apart. There were lots of happy tears as they realised that they had really found each other and that they could begin their lives together again“, says Rachel Ward from the Irish Red Cross Restoring Family Links team.

Diane had brought pictures of the twins, now almost seven years old. Adam had missed a lot of birthdays and milestones in their lives, but is now catching up on lost time with the family he thought he might never find again.

Today, on this international#DayoftheDisappeared, we share the stories of families seperated by conflict, unrest and natural disaster. For more information on Restoring Family Links see www.redcross.ie. For more stories of how the Red Cross is restoring family links in Ireland and around the world follow the Irish Red Cross on Facebook and Twitter.